The Sydney Telegraph Entries
The General's Army

From left:
David Liddle, David Mckay, George Reynolds (car 36)
Barry Ferguson, Doug Chivas, Dave Johnson (car 76)
Doug Whiteford, Eddie Perkins, Jim Hawker (missing) (car 68)
Photo courtesy John Smailes and David Mckay.
There were four cars entered by the Sydney Telegraph. This shows how enterprising the Sydney newspaper group were dedicated to the Marathon.

Lead Team Driver of the three Holden GTS Monaro's, David McKay said he  wanted GMH to sponsor the cars but because of their almost  non-participation in motor sport in Australia, he spent much time trying to convince GMH to agree to help provide three Holden cars.

David saw the Holden as THE car that would attract the attention of one out of every two Australian motorists who would follow the cars progress.

In his book 'Bright Eyes of Danger', David explains how GMH was not into  motor sport as Ford was, and he could not get its approval, even though Don Hayward, a director of GMH and boss of the Public Relations department was as enthusiastic as he was.
John Roach

However after much badgering by David, he finally convinced GMH boss Max Wilson, his sales director John Bagshaw and most importantly, Bill Steinhagen, GMH chief engineer whose department would have to take control of the building and testing, to provide three cars for the Marathon.

GMH agreed to build and test the cars however the Telegraph would buy the cars and David would manage the team and find suitable crew members.

Hot on David's list was Jack Brabham, but unfortunately due to heavy commitments in the USA, Jack was unable to participate.

Even though he managed to convince GMH to contribute to the Marathon, GMH said they should not expect any service between England and Australia.
John Smailes
The fourth car entered by the Sydney Telegraph was the memorable Morris 1100 driven and crewed by three enterprising ladies. Two of the three ladies were journalists for the Daily Telegraph, Eileen Westley and Marion Macdonald and their third crew member was Jenny Gates a secretary.

They drove the same Morris 1100 that Evan Green and 'Gelignite' Jack Murray  had recently used to race 11,000 miles around Australia against an aeroplane (and nearly won) in a promotional build-up to the Marathon.
Eileen Westley, Marion Macdonald (leaning on car) and Jenny Gates (right)
Photo courtesy  Alan Sawyer
The three team lead drivers.
David McKay, Barry Ferguson and Doug Whitehead
Car 76 Barry Ferguson, Doug Chivas, Dave Johnson
Photo courtesy autopics.com
Telegraph team driver, Barry Ferguson said road conditions through Bulgaria had been rough but the dreaded border controls had been a breeze. "The border officials fell over themselves to help us - a far cry from what we had expected," Ferguson said. "We really pushed the car on the way down through the dirt in Bulgaria to the border because we wanted to be on as short a queue as possible, but when we got there, there was hardly anybody about. The control officials stamped our papers in a hurry, then issued Motor Club badges, tourist magazines - and a big bag of fruit.

Ferguson said police had stood on every dangerous corner of the run down into Istanbul. "It was amazing, the local police had blocked off most of the road to traffic and at each really dangerous corner there was a uniformed man waving a red light to warn us of the danger. Once we passed the corner, the police would give us a cheery wave." Ferguson said gale force winds had lifted his two and a half ton Holden several times on the last 100 mile run into Istanbul.

By Istanbul, more than 2000 miles from the start, the strain of competition was obvious on the faces of most of the competitors. According to control official Stuart Turner, himself one of the all time great rally navigators, at least 40 crews were looking disorientated but still several teams refused to take their rest whenever they could.
John Smailes
Car 68 Whiteford, Perkins, Hawker approach a creek crossing
Photo courtesy autopics.com
At Norseman on the edge of the Nullarbor Plain, huge crowds cheered in the Marathon drivers as they sprinted to serivce points. In the middle of town, Dunlop Marathon manager Ross Dodson ordered a team of Goodyear tyre technicians to move on when they tried to set up their service point in front of his. "This behind-the-scenes action is getting pretty cut-throat," Dodson said.

Barry Ferguson raced into the service point claiming: "This was undoubtedly the worst piece of rally road I have travelled on. There were holes of every type, trees of every size, stumps, wash-aways, rocky outcrops and boulders. The road deteriorated into two wheel tracks. Both sides of the track were lined with trees and one mistake by the driver could write off the car for keeps.

At one stage a light aircraft was pacing us and I reckon with a little more steam I could have beaten him, but at 100 mph those trees looked like a solid brick wall and you knew that one driving error could mean disaster. The big Holden V8 was really flying. Blokes like Innes Ireland and Bill Bengry became road blocks and their unintentional obstruction cost us fifteen minutes into control."

Another Telegraph team driver, twice Round Australia Trial winner Eddie Perkins said: "This event has really become a Marathon. Neither of the Round Australia Trials was ever like this. The cars are better and faster and you have to be better and faster to keep pace with them. Anyone who can clean sheet Marvel Loch to Lake King must be a genius - or at least have everything working for him."

Perkins, driving in thick dust in the main bunch of cars, carved his way through the pack to lose only four points - unquestionably one of the outstanding drives of the Marathon.
John Smailes
At Brachina, drivers arrived hot, dusty and tired as the Marathon took its toll. Telegraph veteran, Eddie Perkins, co-driver in car no. 68, who drove both special stages, had abandoned his flameproof overalls in favour of his normal driving gear - shorts, singlet and blucher boots. "I won two Round Australia Trials like this - so I'm not going to change now just for the sake of fashion," he grinned. Eddie covered the two sections without points loss - although his car did bear the scars of an encounter with a dirt bank.

Barry Ferguson, pushing his Holden to the limit and still within reach of the leaders, felt his differential start to collapse shortly after leaving Brachina. He limped to a homestead and called the local police who radioed to the Holden dealer in Broken Hill.

Then he set off again for Mingary at 15 mph. In Broken Hill, the dealer immediately stripped a car in his showroom and sent the differential off to Mingary in a fast truck. When Ferguson arrived 45 points down, the diff was waiting and it was fitted with less than an hour's delay. "We had the diff replaced as a precautionry measure in Perth," Ferguson said, "but the mechanics didn't tell us they were putting in a standard Holden diff instead of the reinforced Chevrolet unit we had used across Europe and Asia."
John Smailes
Car 36 with David Liddle, David Mckay, George Reynolds reaches the end of the line at Mingary with George taken to Broken Hill base hospital suffering head injuries after a bad roll over.
Photo courtesy John Smailes and David McKay
Sixteen miles from Mingary on the road to Broken Hill, the end of the Marathon came for David McKay's yellow and black Holden Monaro, car no. 36, which overturned on a tight right-hand bend and landed in sand dunes. George Reynolds, who was driving, suffered a head injury. The others, David McKay and David Liddle, strapped in with seat belts were not hurt. Until then, the McKay Holden had lost 127 points and was lying in 15th position.

Spectators went to assist. A towel was wrapped around Reynolds head and the car pulled over on to its wheels. The windscreen had been smashed and the body damaged. Reynolds was put into the car and they roared into Mingary, arriving only 14 minutes late. McKay then took his injured crewman to hospital at Broken Hill. It was obvious Reynolds could not continue so McKay was out of the Marathon under the rule that the crew which began in London had to be there at the finish in Sydney.

McKay and Liddle drove the Holden Monaro no. 36 to Warwick Farm, arriving before the field. He proudly told reporters the car had performed magnificently despite the mishap. He said the Holden averaged 80 miles an hour from Broken Hill to Goulburn where they slept before going on quietly to Sydney.
John Smailes

The other two Holden GTS Monaros finished the Marathon.

Car 68 driven by Doug Whiteford, Eddie Perkins and Jim Hawker finished in 14th place with a loss of only 173 points.
Car 76 driven by Barry Ferguson, Doug Chivas and Dave Johnson finished in 12th place with a loss of only 169 points.
Car 36 driven by David Liddle, David Mckay and George Reynolds was in 15th position with a loss of only 127 points before retiring at Mingarie.
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The Ladies I How They Finished I BMC I Ford I Holden I Other Marques I Site Map I Memorabilia I Credits/About Us I Links